This invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling application processor occupancy based traffic overload. More particularly, the invention is directed to a system to maintain call processing related traffic below a predefined threshold in application processors that are typically incorporated into communication networks. The system is an improvement over prior systems in that it incorporates a centralized decision making process for accepting and rejecting calls by the application processor, utilizes an improved splitting sequence in this regard, and bases decisions on an estimation of actual overload conditions.
While the invention is particularly directed to the art of controlling call processing traffic overload in application processors, and will be thus described with specific reference thereto, it will be appreciated that the invention may have usefulness in other fields and applications. For example, the invention may be used to control data traffic in a variety of different processing components where centralizing decision-making and estimating actual overload is desired.
By way of background, application processors (APs) are typically used in wireless communication networks. Call processing related traffic in these application processors is processed by a number of radio cluster server (RCS) processes that are running on the application processor and communicating with microcells assigned to each. Typically, the RCSs do not balance the call related traffic among themselves nor do they store any knowledge about the traffic load distribution among the RCSs. In order to maintain the processed traffic under some predefined threshold, a splitting process is applied to dictate the manner in which the current traffic should be controlled in each of the RCSs. Splitting processes are a widely accepted approach and are based on generating a sequence of zeros and ones. A zero (0) is an instruction to discard a call and a one (1) is an instruction to accept it.
Improvements in controlling traffic in these circumstances is desired. As such, the present invention contemplates a new and improved method and apparatus for controlling application processor occupancy based traffic overload.
A method and apparatus for controlling application processor occupancy based traffic overload are provided. The invention is generally applicable to an application processor of a communication network. The network includes microcells communicating with the application processor, which is also connected to other portions of the network. The application processor comprises a central processing unit having a total load capacity of which at least a portion is uncontrollable and a plurality of radio cluster servers communicating with the microcells.
In one aspect of the invention, the method comprises the steps of monitoring a number of call requests to the radio cluster servers from the microcells, determining a total load of the central processing unit based on the number of call requests and the uncontrollable portion, determining whether an overload condition exists based on the determining of the total load, determining an acceptance rate for the call load if the overload condition exists, determining a splitting sequence for the application processor based on the acceptance rate, and, determining whether call requests are accepted or rejected based on the splitting sequence.
An apparatus implementing the method of the present invention is also provided.
A primary advantage of the present invention is that overall performance of the application processor will be improved inasmuch as controlling the overload condition in this way results in smoother, more consistent operation.
Further scope of the applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided below. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art.